Countach bare metal respray

About 5cm long and 2mm thickness, till now the cracks didn't come back.

 

I have been to Al's workshop many a time and have to say that the work he does on these cars is amazing.

 

Don't know if they switched back and forth but my 88 has original paint and it's single stage.

 

I spot a Ghibli, Indy, Merak and a Koenigsegg.

 

The Ghibli you saw is in fact a Khamsin.

Ciao!
Walter

 

I would be interested to know if there is a known fix to stop the rear 3/4 panels flexing and hence cracking the paint? On a lot of cars I have seen this seems to be a common problem, I assume as the depth of metal in this area is quite shallow?[/QUOTE]

First, regarding the windshield...Having removed / replaced mine, I do not think it is necessary for a quality re-shoot in the same color. However if you choose to remove it, you will not harm the dash or a-pillars but you will have to be very careful w/ the moldings. If you can salvage them, it will require some real diligence to clean off the adhesive. It can be done but it takes a ton of time but it's better than buying a new set which I believe was close to $900 (don't quote me on that). One unexpected problem I encountered was the new screen was about 2mm larger in width (tip to tip) from the bottom corner where the a-pillar meets the fender. This required some minor messaging to the sheet metal and a slight adjustment of the doors for clearance. You would never notice but it was 2-3 days worth of fiddling and a major pain. I suppose it's hard to keep tolerances on new factory parts as I am sure the suppliers have changed from 25 years ago.

Secondly the cracking as you know is common, and we simply found it was within the paint (from flexing) and not the aluminum. We did weld in a few very tidy panels for added rigidity and we will see if this is a decent solution. It's quite easy to fabricate but there are several ways to weld aluminum and I forget which is best, but it's an old technique that not many people do any longer. I use a fabricator that fabs / fixes vintage airplanes and that one technique is all that group uses. I will look into what it was for you.

Love your car btw, red over red is same as mine (QV)...I've never seen another although I was told they were around! It's one of my favorite combos.

Regards,
John

 

Simon:

Any way to protect the interior leather?

And, if it is to be removed & cleaned, would you consider redoing the sills without the external speakers?

By the way, I really love the red/red combination. Awesome. You can really see it with the glass removed.

 

Hey Simon, ask Al what he thinks of Mika

 

Excellent

 

I have similar job ahead for my car, so closely observe this thread, keep those photos coming!

 

I enjoy your pictures and story.
Nice to be able to follow a paintjob on a Countach from start to finish.
Will you be going back to bare metal? Probably not!

 

This one appears red on red... is it you or someone you know?
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

red on red is a great combination! for me the best on a red countach!

 

Regarding these pictures the car must have had a incident on this side. half an inch of primer is definitely not factory standard. also look at the edge line of the fender it's scrumbled.

 

That's a LOT of bondo. Do you know the story? What UK shop did that?

 

Ha, i thought that pic might be your car... sorry to see this project get much bigger for you but keep at it and you will persevere. She will be better than new!

 

also... can that front fender be saved or would it just be better to fit a replacement?
would save a lot of time i would think to put a new one on...?

 

A good bodyshop restores the fender in a perfect way, be aware that replacement fenders to not fit and need a lot of work to make them fit...